M+, Hong Kong’s new museum of visual culture – encompassing 20th and 21st century visual art, design and architecture, and moving image from Hong Kong, the Mainland, Asia and beyond – will be one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world. Located adjacent to the Art Park on the waterfront, the M+ building is scheduled for completion in 2019.

The architectural form by Herzog & de Meuron encompasses an efficient system of spaces, facilities and functions. Accessible through multiple entry points the horizontal structure houses 17,000 square metres of exhibition space, three cinemas, a lecture theatre, a learning centre, a museum shop, performance spaces, cafés, a mediatheque and a public roof terrace with views to Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong skyline. Soaring up from the podium is the vertical museum tower which houses the library, archive, study centre, member’s facilities, museum offices and restaurants, and features a LED façade for the display of artists’ moving image works.

A unique feature of the building is the bold architectural response to the challenge of the existing underlying railway line that bisects the site. Rather than masking it in an attempt to erase its existence, the design instead excavates around it to create a unique ‘found exhibition space’, while at the same time providing a symbolic anchor to one of the few existing features of the reclaimed site.